Fun at the Big A? Try Plan B

U nconventional wisdom for a Monday morning...

Plan B: It’s far from a perfect system, offering freedom to those players who want it the least (entrenched veterans too old and tired to move), denying freedom to those players who want it the most (young second-stringers and underpaid stars) and penalizing the teams who do it right (the ones with the most depth) in favor of those without a clue. But with a bit of imagination and ingenuity, Plan B can work for you--please see the 1991 Washington Redskins, whose regular-season starting lineup featured more Plan B signees (five) than first- and second-round draft choices (four). In other words, thanks to Plan B, you could conceivably draft as poorly as the Rams do and still win a Super Bowl.

Jackie Slater: How could the Rams even consider leaving him unprotected? With Tom Newberry out of position all year at center, Slater, 37-year-old body or no, was the most effective blocker the Rams had in 1991.

Jerry Gray: Gray’s anatomy got in the way of a great career in Anaheim; he was Pro Bowl by rote until the knee injury struck him down late in the 1990 preseason. Assuming he wasn’t going to help Chuck Knox’s Rams in 1992, wouldn’t it have been better business to protect Gray now and trade him later? This way, the Rams get nothing in return except--knowing how these things always play out--more haunting and taunting from afar.

Buford McGee: Another sad Ram tale--from team MVP to Plan B, in barely 12 months. Along with fullback McGee, the Rams failed to protect Marcus Dupree, the much-hyped tailback experiment that never got off the petri dish. So who is Knox planning to trade for--John L. Williams, Bobby Humphrey or Christian Okoye?

Jacob Green: Know Thy Enemy Dept.: Green is a 35-year-old defensive lineman whom the Seattle Seahawks left unprotected at age 34. A year older, Green now makes the Seahawks’ protected 37 because, in the words of new Coach Tom Flores, “We needed some continuity and we needed some leadership.” To say nothing of needing to keep him away from the old coach, Knox, who already was awaiting Green in Anaheim, contract and uniform number in hand.

Dave Krieg: Another Seahawk, another message to Knox: You want him, you got him. The upside on Krieg--he knows Knox, he knows Knox’s system, he generally gets the most out of his ability. The downside--he holds the NFL record for fumbles, with more than 100 for his career, although Jim Everett was closing the gap last season.

Tommy Maddox: “One year away, one year away.” Do they mean Maddox as a matured and NFL-ready quarterback . . . or UCLA as a matured and Rose Bowl-ready football team? No doubt, Maddox’s application for the April draft hurts Terry Donahue more than it hurts him, but Bret Johnson, we hear, still has a year’s worth of eligibility.

Billy Blanton: A week ago, he was too small for UCLA. How about now?

San Diego State: Barring injury, transfer and/or early draft notification, the Aztecs are set with David Lowery through 1993, followed by redshirt sophomore-to-be Blanton through 1996. That’s half a decade of high quality quarterbacking, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Orange County.

UC Irvine: If the Anteaters can lose to San Jose State (1-15 pre-tipoff), anything is possible, even the unfathomable 15-game losing streak of 1989-90. Rod Baker’s masons have lost 11 in a row and next on the schedule are, in order, 13-7 Fresno State, 11-6 Utah State, Cal State Fullerton (at Fullerton), 14-4 UC Santa Barbara and 11-7 Cal State Long Beach before San Jose rears its beatable head again, Feb. 27 at the Bren Center. Oh-for-16 is a distinct possibility . . . and who said Bill Mulligan got out too soon?

Cal State Fullerton: Those budget-slashin’ Titans may have finally slashed too far when they cut Jim Huffman’s women’s volleyball program from the docket. Huffman’s lawsuit is unique, no doubt, but it does appear to have legal legs, and if it was your program, your paycheck, in this economy, wouldn’t you be doing the same?

Kareem vs. Dr. J: If they can sanction this, how can anybody deny Magic Johnson a comeback?

Magic Johnson: Worry about his health if you will, but the likelihood of Magic transmitting the HIV virus during a basketball game is infinitesimal. He has a greater chance of being struck by lightning. He has a greater chance of winning the lottery. He has a greater chance of watching the Angels win the American League pennant this season.

The Angels: How bad was the Von Hayes trade? The very mention of it draws standing ovations as the Philadelphia Phillies’ off-season promotional tour winds across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It gets worse: The February edition of Inside Sports, which went to press before the winter meetings, rated each major league team’s top rookie prospects for 1992. Ranked 1-2 for the Angels were Kyle Abbott and Ruben Amaro Jr.

John McEnroe: This weekend found Mac back where he belongs--winning Davis Cup ties for the United States. A query to Capt. Tom Gorman: So where was he when you were in Lyon?

Pigskin Classic III: It will be Texas A&M; and Stanford, Bill Walsh’s first game back with the Cardinal, a major sports happening. How did Don Andersen rig it? Well, two months ago, Stanford said yes to Andersen’s other football game, the Freedom Bowl, then backed out at the last minute, leaving Andersen high and dry and on the next outbound flight to Tulsa. Yes, guilt can be a powerful emotion.

Nolan Ryan: A group interested in buying the Houston Astros wants to enlist Ryan as part of its management team and Ryan says he’s open to the idea. And they call him baseball’s greatest ambassador. If you want to do some real good, Nolan, and right a wrong at one of your earlier career stops, go West, old man, go West.